Stop! Look! Keep it Moving!

Have you and your family ever gone to a sporting event?  A Broadway play?  A concert?  Some type of ticketed event with pre-assigned seating?  And as you approach your seats, or what you believe are your seats, you see that someone else is sitting there.  You look at your tickets; you look at the seat numbers; you count the number of seats in the row until you get to the ones you believe are yours.  And if you're like me, you may even go as far as to boldly tell the people sitting there (in so many words), "You're in our seats." But no sooner than you speak the words, you begin to wonder, you begin to doubt whether that is so, or maybe you've gotten something wrong.  Maybe you misread your ticket.  Or maybe you read the ticket correctly: you're in the right row and at the right seats, but you're in the wrong section of the theater or went through the wrong gate in the stadium. 
 
I've been there and admit that this can be quite embarrassing.  And in those instances, I've had to make a decision: do I 1) Ignore, deny, or remain oblivious of my mistake, insisting that this is where I'm supposed to be or 2) Take a moment to figure out exactly what's going on, realize my mistake, and just move on to where I'm truly supposed to be.  If I insist that the seats are mine, I end up spending more time and energy trying to force myself to be somewhere I'm not supposed to be, and the more I spend in the wrong place, the more likely I'll  become frustrated going back and forth with the people sitting in "my" seats.  But if I take a moment to look over my ticket, checking all the particulars against the particulars of where I am, I can save myself and my family time, energy, headaches, and frustration by quickly getting to where we're supposed to be seated, not to mention the disturbance with the people I may have argued with over what I believed were my seats.
 
Here, we're talking about a seat at an event, but we could very well be talking about a seat in an office, a position in a company, or a title within an organization.  Sometimes, in spite of all the signage and all the indicators that we belong some place else, we insist that we're supposed to be and stay right where we are.  Maybe, at a time, you were supposed to do the work you're doing, hold the position you're holding, wear the title you're wearing, but maybe that time is up.  Maybe it's time for a change--not just a change of scenery--in the things you see, but a change in perspective--in how you see things.  Maybe it's time for a transition. 
 
Just like earlier, the ticket said one thing, while we're insisting on something else.  But what's the first step in getting to where we're truly supposed to be?  To realize that we're not or no longer supposed to be where we are.  Even if we don't immediately know where we're supposed to be, we first have to know and accept that wherever we are, that's no longer it.  Remember, the longer we stay where we no longer belong, the more time, energy, and resources we spend in the wrong place, depriving ourselves of the joys and benefits of being in the right place.  So, my question to you is this: where are you supposed to be?  If you're not quite sure, why not:

1. Stop!  Take a moment to take a time-out;
2. Look!  Pay attention to where you are, the work you're doing, and whether you've missed any indicators along the way; and
3. Keep it moving!  Don't ignore or deny what you see.  The indicators and any writing on the wall will help direct you to where you're supposed to be.